Colonial American Name Generator
Period-accurate names from the thirteen colonies
Generate colonial American names from Jamestown to the Revolution: Puritan New Englanders like Ebenezer Thaxter and Thankful Wolcott, Virginia and Carolina planters, Pennsylvania Germans, Dutch New Yorkers, Huguenots, Quakers, Scots-Irish frontier families and Black colonists. Every name pairs a period given name with a surname from the same community.
About colonial American names
A colonial American name tells you which colony a person came from before it tells you anything else. New England drew on the Old Testament and on Puritan virtue names: Ebenezer, Jabez, Eliphalet, Mehitable and Keziah alongside Thankful, Patience, Submit and Waitstill, attached to Massachusetts and Connecticut surnames like Thaxter, Wolcott, Hotchkiss and Leffingwell. Virginia and Carolina gentry used a narrow English stock (William, Lucy, Betty, Landon) and turned family surnames into given names: Armistead Taliaferro, Carter Burwell, Dandridge Fitzhugh, while the Charleston Lowcountry added French Huguenot families such as Manigault, Mazyck, Prioleau and Porcher.
The middle colonies were the most mixed. Pennsylvania Quakers favored plain names (Isaac Norris, Phebe Mendenhall, Mahlon Scarborough); Pennsylvania Germans used paired names like Johann Georg and Anna Barbara with Hochstetler, Brubaker and Oberholtzer; the Hudson Valley and Long Island stayed Dutch for generations (Annetje Van Rensselaer, Teunis Van Dyck, Catalyntje Beekman); Welsh Tract settlers brought Griffith, Rees and Cadwalader. On the backcountry frontier, Scots-Irish families like the McDowells, Breckinridges and Calhouns used Archibald, Grizel, Lachlan and Isobel. Enslaved and free Black colonists appear in records as Cato, Pompey, Cuffee, Phillis and Dinah with surnames such as Freeman.
The list mixes all of these communities so you can pick a name that fits a specific colony, decade and station.
How to choose colonial American names
- Pick the colony first. Ebenezer Thaxter is a Massachusetts deacon, Landon Fauntleroy a Virginia planter, Hans Hochstetler a Lancaster County farmer and Teunis Van Dyck a Hudson Valley Dutchman; mixing regions in one family reads wrong.
- Virtue names (Thankful, Submit, Deliverance, Waitstill) were New England and mostly women; by the 1760s they signal an older or stricter household.
- Southern gentry recycled surnames as first names (Armistead, Dandridge, Bolling, Peyton). Use one to flag old money; use a plain John or Lucy for a yeoman family.
- Spelling was fluid. Catharina and Catherine, Annetje and Annatje, Mehitable and Mehetabel all appear for the same person, so feel free to vary it between documents in a story.
- Middle names were rare outside German and Huguenot families before 1776; a New England or Virginia character usually had just a given name and surname.
Frequently asked questions
What were common colonial American first names?
John, William, Thomas, Samuel, Joseph, Benjamin and James for men; Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, Hannah, Ann, Abigail and Martha for women. Together those covered more than half of all colonists. The rarer biblical names (Eliphalet, Jedidiah, Keturah), virtue names (Thankful, Patience) and Dutch or German forms (Annetje, Catharina) are what make a name feel unmistakably colonial.
How is this different from the colonial name generator or the 1700s name generator?
This page is limited to the British North American colonies between 1607 and 1776 and sorts names by community: Puritan, Quaker, Virginia gentry, Carolina Lowcountry, Pennsylvania German, Dutch, Huguenot, Welsh, Scots-Irish and Black colonists. The 1700s generator also covers Georgian Britain and New France; the colonial generator spans the wider colonial world.
Are these real people?
No. The given names, surnames and spellings come from parish registers, deeds, tax lists and muster rolls of the period, but the pairings are invented so you are not borrowing a real historical person's identity. Well-known figures such as Franklin, Washington and Revere are deliberately left out.
Can I use these names for living history, a novel or a tabletop campaign?
Yes. They suit reenactment personas, historical fiction set around the French and Indian War or the Revolution, genealogy-style worldbuilding and games like Colonial Gothic or a colonial-era Call of Cthulhu scenario. Match the surname's community to your character's home colony for the most convincing result.
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All 500 colonial American names
A: 59 names
- Abiah Thacher
- Abiel Willard
- Abigail DeLyon
- Abigail Lockwood
- Abigail Minis
- Abigail Sewall
- Abijah Chauncy
- Abraham Beachy
- Abraham Bevier
- Abraham Hart
- Abraham Micheaux
- Abraham Passmore
- Abraham Porcher
- Abraham Vosburgh
- Adam Mott
- Adriaen Post
- Aeltje Ackerman
- Aeltje Van Buren
- Agnes McCulloch
- Agnes Stuart
- Alice Lightfoot
- Ambrose Ives
- Amity Hollister
- Amos Trowbridge
- Andrew Calhoun
- Andries Whitbeck
- Angus McCormick
- Ann Boone
- Ann Bulloch
- Ann Colleton
- Ann Harrod
- Ann Izard
- Ann Proctor
- Ann Sharpless
- Ann Watson
- Anna Barbara Brenneman
- Anna Beiler
- Anna De Lancey
- Anna Ebersol
- Anna Margaretha Huber
- Anna Maria Brubaker
- Anna Pastorius
- Anna Troyer
- Annatje Schenck
- Anne Crispell
- Anne Dabney
- Annetje Van Rensselaer
- Anstis Wentworth
- Anthony Bonneau
- Antje Stryker
- Antje Voorhees
- Antje Westervelt
- Apollonia Bowman
- Ariaantje Goes
- Armistead Taliaferro
- Arthur Frost
- Augustine Ludlow
- Azariah Minot
- Azubah Hale
B: 15 names
- Barbara Blank
- Barbara Keim
- Barbara Zercher
- Barent Bogardus
- Barnabas Hoar
- Bathsheba Coddington
- Bathurst Skipwith
- Benjamin Huger
- Benjamin Whipple
- Benoni Mather
- Bethia Saltonstall
- Bethia Sturges
- Betty Armistead
- Bolling Wormeley
- Boston Tufts
C: 28 names
- Cadwalader Evans
- Caleb Denison
- Cambridge Gould
- Casper Hallenbeck
- Catharina Speicher
- Catharina Van Brunt
- Catharina Yoder
- Catlyntje Hagaman
- Cato Bliss
- Catrin Lukens
- Charity Hazard
- Charlotte Ravenel
- Charlotte Sublett
- Christian Cunningham
- Christian Herr
- Christian Plank
- Christina Snavely
- Christina Van Loon
- Christopher Judson
- Claes Van Schaick
- Comfort Bissell
- Consider Hancock
- Constance Peabody
- Content Gallup
- Cornelis Cortelyou
- Cornelis Ten Broeck
- Cosyn Haring
- Cuffee Hazard
D: 14 names
- Dandridge Fitzhugh
- Daniel Martiau
- Daniel Zubly
- David Comstock
- Deborah Gardner
- Deliverance Chapman
- Deliverance Treat
- Desire Howland
- Dinah Sewall
- Dirck Groot
- Dirck Lansing
- Donald Carson
- Dorcas Macy
- Dorothy Blair
E: 44 names
- Ebenezer Thaxter
- Edmund Titus
- Edmund Wooster
- Edward Waring
- Eleazer Wyllys
- Eliakim Bissell
- Elias Ball
- Elihu Pardee
- Elijah Gorham
- Eliphaz Lord
- Elisabeth Romeyn
- Elisha Quincy
- Elizabeth Champion
- Elizabeth Hext
- Elizabeth Horry
- Elizabeth Putnam
- Elizabeth Tazewell
- Elizabeth Telfair
- Elkanah Wheeler
- Ellis Lewis
- Ellis Pugh
- Elnathan Chesebrough
- Elnathan Hyde
- Elsje Jansen
- Elspeth Armstrong
- Engeltje Rutgers
- Enoch Delano
- Epaphroditus Bonner
- Ephraim Hotchkiss
- Esther DesBrosses
- Esther Deveaux
- Esther Faneuil
- Eunice Leverett
- Euphemia Craig
- Eva Funk
- Evan Bevan
- Evert Pruyn
- Experience Booth
- Experience Hinckley
- Eytje Van Valkenburgh
- Ezekiel Doane
- Ezekiel Wanton
- Ezra Burling
- Ezra Cushman
F: 9 names
- Faith Burr
- Fear Bartlett
- Felix Warley
- Femmetje Van Vechten
- Fergus Wallace
- Fielding Ludwell
- Fitzhugh Massey
- Flora Hussey
- Freelove Nickerson
G: 18 names
- Gabriel Marion
- Gabriel Maury
- Geertje Bergen
- Geesje Clute
- George Davidson
- George Tattnall
- Gerrit Bradt
- Gerrit Roosevelt
- Gershom Colt
- Gertraut Keller
- Gideon Olmsted
- Giles Bristol
- Gooch Brent
- Grace Belden
- Grietje Gansevoort
- Grietje Hopper
- Guiliam Bogert
- Gwen Humphreys
H: 25 names
- Hagar Winslow
- Hannah Ely
- Hannah Latham
- Hannah Merwin
- Hans Hochstetler
- Hans Michael Brackbill
- Harmen Van Nostrand
- Harmen Vedder
- Harriott Rutledge
- Heinrich Witmer
- Helen Kennedy
- Hendrick Kip
- Hendrick Mandeville
- Hendrick Van Orden
- Henry Sanford
- Hephzibah Meserve
- Hester Van Ness
- Hezekiah Backus
- Hezekiah Gookin
- Hilletje Quackenbush
- Hope Gould
- Hopestill Gilman
- Hosea Bushnell
- Hugh Foulke
- Humphrey Alling
I: 6 names
- Ichabod Talcott
- Increase Tuthill
- Ira Wakeman
- Isaac Lanier
- Isaac Seixas
- Isobel Crockett
J: 60 names
- Jabez Huntington
- Jabez Selden
- Jacob Flournoy
- Jacob Lapp
- Jacob Mast
- Jacob Motte
- Jacob Searing
- Jacob Shoemaker
- Jacob Truax
- Jacob Zabriskie
- Jacobus Dykman
- Jacobus Staats
- Jacques Ammonet
- Jacques Cordes
- James Findley
- Jan Cowenhoven
- Jan Van Cortlandt
- Jane Godwin
- Jane McAfee
- Jannetje Bleecker
- Jannetje Conyn
- Jannetje Vanderhoef
- Jean Bondurant
- Jean Patton
- Jeanne Dupuy
- Jedidiah Lathrop
- Jedidiah Stoddard
- Jemima Hussey
- Jemima Whittelsey
- Jephthah Sears
- Job Tomlinson
- Joel Sprague
- Johann Georg Oberholtzer
- Johann Jacob Lehman
- Johannes Smucker
- Johannes Vander Heyden
- John Habersham
- John Hallock
- John Hawley
- Jonah Lowndes
- Jonas Ripley
- Jonathan Bryan
- Jonathan Sampson
- Joost Duryea
- Joseph Allyn
- Joseph Kirkbride
- Joshua Delaplaine
- Josiah Bradstreet
- Josiah Hollister
- Josiah Sill
- Josias Vincent
- Judah Gomez
- Judith Bolling
- Judith DuBose
- Judith Dutoy
- Judith Fontaine
- Judith Gedney
- Juno Starbuck
- Jupiter Folger
- Juriaen Van Riper
K: 4 names
- Katherine Wynne
- Keating Simons
- Keturah Crocker
- Kitty Nicholas
L: 22 names
- Lachlan Boyd
- Lammetje Van Alstyne
- Lawrence Merriman
- Leah Billington
- Lemuel Tufts
- Lettice Rogers
- Lettice Swann
- Levi Burritt
- Levi Sheftall
- Littleton Beverley
- Littleton Kemp
- Lois Atwater
- Lourens Van Buskirk
- Love Woodbridge
- Lucinda Wythe
- Lucretia Gorton
- Lucy Peyton
- Ludwig Kendig
- Lydia Bradbury
- Lydia Legaré
- Lydia Todd
- Lysbeth Vanderbilt
M: 46 names
- Madeleine Chastain
- Madeleine Postell
- Magdalen Guerrant
- Magdalena Kurtz
- Mahalath Higgins
- Mahlon Scarborough
- Malcolm Buchanan
- Manasseh Bushnell
- Mann Corbin
- Margaret Bridger
- Margaret Townsend
- Margaretha Weaver
- Margrietje Bayard
- Marguerite Deyo
- Marguerite Moncure
- Maria Hertzler
- Marianne Guerard
- Maritje Van Wyck
- Marretje Douw
- Marritje Van Houten
- Martha Hatch
- Martha Tilden
- Mary Cornell
- Mary Dayton
- Mary Gallup
- Mary Lining
- Mary Magdalen Gaillard
- Mary Osborn
- Mary Treutlen
- Mathurin Ballou
- Matthias Belcher
- Mehitable Beebe
- Mehitable Mansfield
- Melgert Van Deusen
- Mercy Hanford
- Mercy Higgins
- Mercy Marvin
- Mercy Standish
- Micah Pierpont
- Mildred Ruffin
- Miles Hurd
- Mindwell Whittelsey
- Mordecai Booth
- Moritz Zook
- Moses Bourne
- Mourning Bassett
N: 10 names
- Nanny Cushing
- Naomi Paine
- Nathaniel Pynchon
- Nathaniel Thorpe
- Neeltje Stoothoff
- Neeltje Van Horne
- Nehemiah Sturgis
- Nelly Cary
- Nicholas Keeler
- Nicolaus Denlinger
O: 6 names
- Obadiah Avery
- Obadiah Frothingham
- Onesimus Freeman
- Ottilia Greider
- Owen Meredith
- Ozias Ames
P: 26 names
- Patience Peet
- Patience Wadsworth
- Patience Yale
- Patrick Houston
- Paul Gallaudet
- Peggy Churchill
- Peleg Pratt
- Peleg Slocum
- Persis Ludlow
- Peter Peronneau
- Peyton Grymes
- Phebe Mendenhall
- Phebe Thacher
- Philip Curtiss
- Phillis Coffin
- Phineas Bulkley
- Phineas Dearborn
- Pierre Latané
- Pierre Prioleau
- Pieter Van Alen
- Preserved Chesley
- Primus Whipple
- Prince Slocum
- Priscilla Doane
- Prudence Beardsley
- Prudence Starbuck
Q: 1 name
- Quash Greene
R: 23 names
- Rachel Demarest
- Rachel Levy
- Rachel Remsen
- Rachel Swain
- Rebecca Chesley
- Rebecca Lopez
- Rebecca Swart
- Rees Griffith
- Regina Schnebly
- Relief Mayhew
- Rem Wyckoff
- Remember Cushing
- René Blanchard
- Reuben Hubbell
- Richard Husted
- Richard Willets
- Robert Maxwell
- Roelof Voorhis
- Roger Tuttle
- Rowland Ellis
- Ruth Barnwell
- Ruth Collier
- Ruth Platt
S: 39 names
- Sabina Middleton
- Sally Robinson
- Samuel Bowne
- Samuel Glick
- Samuel Pleasants
- Sara Lott
- Sara Van Giesen
- Sara Van Pelt
- Sarah Bryan
- Sarah Gwinnett
- Sarah Hawxhurst
- Sarah Minor
- Sarah Munson
- Sarah Osborne
- Sarah Paxson
- Sarah Thoroughgood
- Scipio Tuttle
- Seth Bancroft
- Shubael Palmer
- Shubael Terry
- Silence Pepperrell
- Simeon Saltonstall
- Simeon Waldron
- Simon Veeder
- Skipwith Braxton
- Solomon Winslow
- Sophia Pendleton
- Spotswood Digges
- Stephen Fitch
- Stoffel Rohrer
- Submit Haynes
- Submit Hurlbut
- Sukey Fairfax
- Susanna Corwin
- Susanna Hess
- Susanna Thorne
- Susannah Mazyck
- Susanne Gignilliat
- Susanne Seguin
T: 19 names
- Tabitha Tibbetts
- Temperance Eldredge
- Temple Hamlin
- Thacker Bland
- Thankful Dorr
- Thankful Ely
- Thankful Peck
- Thankful Pike
- Thankful Wolcott
- Theodore Drayton
- Theophilus Goffe
- Thomas Rodman
- Timothy Sherman
- Tirzah Faunce
- Tobias Hitchcock
- Triplett Alexander
- Tryntje Hogeboom
- Tryntje Stuyvesant
- Tunis Dircksen
U: 1 name
- Ulrich Wengerd
V: 5 names
- Valentin Kreider
- Valentine Beecher
- Venus Brownell
- Veronica Eby
- Veronica Gingerich
W: 12 names
- Waitstill Lothrop
- Walter Goodyear
- Warner Throckmorton
- Waugh Fowke
- Wealthy Hathorne
- Wessel Hardenbergh
- Wiert Banta
- Wilhelmina Van Schoonhoven
- William Loomis
- William Milledge
- Wilson Tayloe
- Wouter Ditmars
Y: 1 name
- Yost Hiestand